A Beautiful Nightmare
by AmiableAngel
Summary: Morgana sees the future in her dreams where Guinevere is queen of Camelot by Arthur's side. She has to destroy their relationship to prevent this from happening. A young heroine from our time becomes enmeshed in her plans. Will she get out alive?...


**Chapter One**

The sweet darkness that sleep brings melted away as Evelyn slowly opened her eyes. The light was so bright that she had to cover her eyes. She groaned as a sharp ache stabbed at her head. God she needed some Panadol. But that would mean having to get out of bed, which she wasn't inclined to do. Every muscle in her body was so sore as if she had run a marathon. But you'd never catch Evelyn doing such a thing so why on earth was she hurt all over?

"You're awake!" someone cried. The voice belonged to a man –

Evelyn jerked up right. Bad move. A sudden wave of nausea hit her. Adrenaline made her heart race like a cornered mouse's. She stared at the spindly young man striding towards her.

"Stay away from me!" Evelyn cried as she tried to grasp something with her hands to defend herself with. "I know self-defence," she cried in panic.

Her eyes widened. What the hell? Why was this guy dressed in an outfit from the dark ages? Never mind that why the hell was he in her room?... Evelyn quickly scanned the area: a fireplace, a roughly made wooden table, a shelf full of small glass bottles, and stony walls. This wasn't her room! Her eyes flicked back onto the stranger making sure he hadn't taken a step closer.

The man had short jet black hair, an intimidating height, and currently he held up his long fingers so that the palms of his hands faced her, in the same way you'd calm down a scared animal. "It's all right," he said placatingly, "I'm not going to hurt you." He even took a step back.

"Then tell me where I am, how I got here and who on earth _you_ are," Evelyn demanded with a deep frown.

"I don't know how you got here but you are in Camelot." The man gave her a lopsided smile. "And I'm Merlin."

"Camelot….Merlin…." Evelyn mumbled in deep concentration. Then she burst into laughter. No way! This must be some sick prank. She probably had too much to drink the night before and this guy was just part of a joke. "The next thing you're going to tell me is that you can do magic right?" she laughed.

"Wait," he frowned. The innocent expression on his face darkened a little. "How did you know?" He pursed his lips as soon as he said that as if it was a taboo. A thought lit up his face suddenly. "Y-you can do magic too then?" he concluded a huge grin beginning to form from ear to ear.

Evelyn blinked at him in surprise. He couldn't be serious…. But the sincerity of those very blue eyes really irked her. "Ok please stop with the jokes now. I really need some pain killers and I'd very much like to go home Mr Merlin," she said with exasperation.

His face was filled with confusion and then it became serious. 'Merlin' stretched his long legs and in two steps he was standing beside her bed. "Promise me that you'll keep this knowledge a secret between us."

She looked up at him with incredulity. It suddenly dissipated when she could see the earnestness in that face of his. No way. Was there something wrong with this guy's head? It'd be best to play along if that was the case, but a small part of her that she hated at this moment didn't think so. "I-I promise," she agreed. "Why can't anyone know that you have magic?" she asked impulsively.

The young man gave a small laugh, relief clearly evident on his face. "It's my turn to ask questions," he said. "Who are you? Where are you from? And why are you wearing such strange clothes?..." He asked as he scanned her body.

Evelyn looked down to see that she was wearing her favourite pair of dark blue jeans and a gray shirt that fitted her snugly. She blushed and brought the bed cover up to her neck. "I could ask you the same thing!" she snapped.

"Sorry," he said with a slight blush and looked away. There was an innocence about him that made her almost smile. What was she thinking? It was stupid to let her guard down so easily.

"I'm Evelyn," she replied. Fine, if he was going to keep playing along then she was too. "I'm from the twenty-first century."

"What?" Merlin exclaimed, wide eyed and full of curiosity. He sat beside her and looked into her eyes as if to check if she was lying. "You're from the future?"

"I-I guess so," Evelyn replied, feeling somewhat discomforted by his proximity.

"I don't believe it," he said, staring at her as if she was a strange animal in the zoo.

"Yeah, that makes the two of us," she muttered.

"Prove it," he said with contained excitement.

"Um," Evelyn said with a frown. She reached into her pockets in her jeans and felt the edge of her driving licence. She pulled it out and showed it to him. Merlin took it tentatively as if the card would break the moment he touched it. "That's my driving licence," she explained despite feeling like an idiot.

"Unbelievable!" Merlin said with a gasp. He looked at her and then back at the card. "The portrait of you is exactly the same as in real life. No artist could be so precise." There was a pause, which Evelyn didn't want to break because she was speechless herself. "Magic. That has got to be it." This was just going great….

Evelyn shook her head. "Someone took a picture of me with a camera…" He looked at her blankly. "It's a-a small machine that can capture what you see." She sighed. Why was did she have to tell him this? Boy he was a good actor!

A thought hit her then.

"You spoke of being able to use magic," Evelyn began with a cocked eyebrow. "Please show me your magical ability Merlin." She gave herself a pat on the back. This would end the silly game this 'Merlin' person was playing.

He looked at her warily. "You mustn't tell another soul," he said with great seriousness.

Evelyn nodded.

For half a second the colour of Merlin's eyes changed to a golden yellow. Some foreign words left his lips that sounded deep and ancient. Then voila! Her licence was floating in mid air.

Evelyn's self-satisfaction shattered then. "No way!" she cried. Surely this had to be a trick? Without a moment to lose she moved her fingers around the card to check if there was any fine string attached to it. Although that made no sense because it had been in her pocket the whole time so Merlin wouldn't have been able to do that. Evelyn grabbed her card. "How did you do that?" she asked her voice dripping with scepticism.

He shrugged and he opened his mouth to say something.

"Merlin!" a voice thundered. In less than a moment the door swung open and a fair, stereotypical prince entered the room. But his temper was anything but prince-like. He paused in surprise when he saw the two. "Sorry am I disturbing you?" he asked. The question seemed like it was aimed at the two but it also seemed like a jibe at Merlin.

Evelyn sat still with her mouth shut. She wasn't sure what was going on. These two characters out of a fairytale stood before her chatting away as if nothing was abnormal.

"Of course you," Merlin muttered, "as always." Eveyln was surprised at his boldness.

"I beg your pardon?" he exclaimed and placed his hands on his hips. The little self-control he had was deserting him, which made Evelyn's heart race; she was very glad that anger wasn't aimed at her. "You were meant to be serving my breakfast an hour ago!"

"I am sorry Prince Arthur," Merlin replied and stood up. "I will get back to my duties as soon as possible."

The man named Arthur ran his fingers through his golden hair. "Wait," he said with eyes closed. "You must have been looking after this young lady." There was a pause where 'I am sorry' was meant to go but he didn't utter those words. Evelyn deduced this Arthur person was a proud man yet kind too.

Evelyn nodded her head. She didn't want Merlin to be getting in trouble because of her. "Yes your highness," she mumbled and lowered her eyes with a blush. Your highness? What was happening? Why did all this feel like a TV show? Surely there was someway to get out of it…it must all be a dream…Yes, soon she would wake up. There were no such things as magicians and princes in real life who randomly dropped by. Evelyn had a feeling though that if she didn't go with the flow she would inevitably go mad.

"What is your name?" Arthur asked gently.

"Evelyn," she replied looking up to meet his blue eyes. They weren't the same blue as Merlin's. Merlin had deep blue eyes the colour of the depths of the ocean. But the prince had a silver-like quality in his eyes. It seemed the Prince Arthur had been waiting for her to say something more. Since she hadn't she stared at him blankly.

"She is a distant cousin of mine," Merlin said with haste and then slowed his words down a little more to make it sound a bit more natural. "She was on her way to visit us but hit her head on the way. I found her on an errand for Gaius last night." Arthur noted it with slight suspicion. She was soon out of his mind though, Evelyn could tell. It was obvious that he had more important matters to deal with than the health of a girl he had never seen in his entire life.

"Well done Merlin," Arthur commented. "I-er hope you feel better soon Evelyn." He gave her a small smile and then moved to the door. "See you at the training grounds soon Merlin." Arthur gave him a pat on the back and then left.

It was then that Evelyn realised that she still held the covers up to her chin. She let it go quickly, another blush attacking her cheeks. Embarrassment quickly turned into irritation. "Hit my head? Merlin?" she exclaimed with her arms folded. "Now he thinks I'm a total klutz." What a great way to make a first impression!

Merlin chuckled. "Sorry," he said with a shrug. "I couldn't think of something better. But it is true you know. I found you last night by a pine tree cold and unconsciousness. I'm surprised you have gotten better so quickly."

Evelyn sighed. "I want to get out of here and back…into my time period!" It felt eerie to utter those words. Yes, this has got to be a dream.

"I don't know how to, erm, transport you through time…." Merlin replied apologetically. "I don't think it's ever been done before."

Her face was crestfallen. "What? Aww man!" She rubbed her forehead as an ache started to strike her head . "How am I going to get out of this nightmare?"

"Evelyn," Merlin spoke gently. He moved to her side and placed his hands on her shoulders lightly. "I don't know how but I will try to figure out a way okay?"

She met his earnest eyes and nodded slightly.

"All hope is not lost," he smiled. It was a sweet smile. Magician, servant or whatever else he may be, Evelyn could tell that he was a good man and later she would realise what a great friend he was.

"You know Merlin, your ears stick out a whole lot like an elf's," she commented randomly. In truth she wanted to thank him but she wasn't very good at handling mushy situations like these. Evelyn tugged at them childishly. "I think they're cute."

He pulled her hands away with a raised brow. "Hey do you want to suffer living in Camelot for the rest of your life?" he threatened light-heartedly.

Evelyn smiled apologetically. "You better attend to the prince or else he might have you for breakfast tomorrow."

"You're right," Merlin grinned and he stood up. "Get some more rest. If you get hungry there's some bread and cheese on the table," he pointed at the object on the table covered with a grey cloth, "and once you're feel like taking a look of our great Camelot…" He pulled something from the table. It was a maroon gown with white sleeves. "You won't look like a fish out of water with this on."

She took the gown from him and immediately disliked it. The material was coarse and she knew for sure that it would be itchy and uncomfortable. Evelyn looked up at him petulantly. "Do I have to?" shed asked despite knowing the answer already.

"Yes," he replied moving towards the door.

"What happened to the pretty gowns that the ladies of Camelot used to wear?" Evelyn sighed.

"Gwen was kind enough to let you have one of hers," he replied, "you should be more grateful. Besides you are a commoner in the eyes of the nobles of Camelot."

"That sucks," she pouted.

"I really must get going," he said and closed the door behind him. It opened again and he stuck his head inside. "And no talk of magic or anything related to it or the king will have your head and mine."

Evelyn wanted to ask him about that but the door shut. She heard the sound of his footsteps become dull, and then disappear. She lied back down on the bed. She realised then how hard it was. The mattress was so thin that it would be no different to sleeping on the floor. Evelyn sighed and rolled onto her side. How had she gotten here? That was the other thing that disturbed her. She really couldn't remember anything about her life in the future.

Maybe if she fell asleep then she would wake up in her own world and her memories would return, like in those novels she had read. But it seemed almost impossible to sleep in this bed, she complained to herself. Evelyn closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. Her whole body ached, from her head to her toes. She was so sore and exhausted that despite the uncomfortable bed she soon fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Author's note: **This fanfic is based around the time of episode ten in season three: 'Queen of hearts'. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had fun creating it! Please give me some feedback so that I can improve on my writing technique! =) Just so you know I'm not an expert in the Arthurian legend so I'm sorry in advance for any mistakes I might make!


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